Recycled Streets  10:15-10:30 GMT  07-SEP-2010  WF Date Shot: 07-SEP-2010 Location: VRS. Country: UNITED KINGDOM Sound:    Language:  Aspect ratio: 4:3 Source: ITICON Restrictions: -access to all broadcasters. This material is free of rights and can be accessed in Europe (Eutelsat W3). Circuits cost (minimum one hour) as follows: -Europe: EUR 600 per hour -Americas and⁄or ASIA: USD 1000 per hour -News agencies should contact Geneva for conditions. Please send your requests to worldfeed@eurovision.net Dopesheet: Recycled Streets. Researchers from the University of Sheffield, UK, have developed a long lasting concrete to be used in street construction. Once it is applied, the new material does not need to dry for hours but is ready for light traffic the moment it has been compacted. The secret of the new concrete: it is reinforced with recycled steel fibres from waste tyres. The material was developed within the European research project ECOLANES and was tested both in the lab and at a site near London to verify its durability. During the research, the scientists discovered that the new material is itself fully recyclable. It is also about 12 per cent cheaper compared to traditional concrete. Construction times are reduced by 15 per cent. Professor Pilakoutas, coordinator of the ECOLANES project, emphasizes the overall energy balance of the new eco-concrete: "It is 40 per cent lower compared to traditional concrete pavement, which is possible as we use materials from closer sources, we cause less traffic jams during road maintenance and the material is also longer lasting." Shotlist: A-Roll: Location 1: Logistics Centre near Chigwell, Essex, Great Britain Location 2: University of Sheffield, Great Britain Location 3: Amandus Kahl Tyre Recycling, Patras, Greece Location 4: Construction site in Oldenburg (Ol), Germany 00:00 In the European Union more than 3.2 million tons of used tyres are discharged annually. Since 2003 they all have to be recycled. At a tyre recycling plant in Patras, Greece, machines separate the various components: a typical tyre contains around 50 percent rubber, 25% textiles and 25% steel fibres. The problem: The metal wires still hold a lot of rubber and plastic which limits the options to reuse them. 00:31 Now, a new type of concrete developed at the University of Sheffield in England could improve the durability of pavements and at the same time make use of the steel fibres from recycled tyres. 00:43 Within the European Research project ECOLANES the scientists have developed a dry mix concrete which is reinforced with the recycled steel fibres. The aim was to make the production of the concrete as energy efficient as possible, and using recycled materials is a key factor. The recycled metal wires are also about 50 per cent cheaper compared to non-recycled steel reinforcements. 01:13 Another big advantage of the new concrete mixture: After compaction the material hardens right away and is stable enough to support light traffic immediately after it has been applied. This means in practice: there will be shorter road closures and therefore less traffic jams during construction works. 01:46 The new material was tested in a climate chamber for 56 days. Here the temperature changed daily from plus 20 to minus 20 degrees Celsius. 01:56 Then, for 10 months the researchers exposed the samples alternating to salt water and to oxygen to test the corrosion of the material. 02:07 Finally, the material was mechanically bended to assess how it had coped with such extreme conditions. 02:15 The results were so promising, that the experts decided to conduct several field tests. One of the test sites is located near London at a logistics centre. The new eco-concrete was applied where mainly heavy load vehicles pass and break in front of the gates. The forces on the new material beneath are severe, but now, more than 14 months into the field test, it is time to draw a final conclusion. 02:44 The new material is about 12 per cent cheaper and the construction times are reduced by 15 per cent. For Prof. Pilakoutas, coordinator of the Ecolanes project, the overall energy balance is the most important factor. It is 40 per cent lower compared to traditional concrete pavement. 02:53 Statement Prof Pilakoutas, University of Sheffield: ?The energy savings come about from the fact that we are using less materials from closer sources, the pavement is longer lasting so it is going to last for 40 years so there is going to be less maintenance over the time and less traffic jams during the road maintenance periods.? 03:16 The researchers hope that the new reinforced concrete will help to make road infrastructure more sustainable in the future, reducing potholes, maintenance work and traffic jams. --------- --------- Commentary B-Roll Location 1: Logistics Centre at M11 near Chigwell, Essex, Great Britain Location 2: University of Sheffield, Great Britain Location 3: Amandus Kahl Tyre Recycling, Patras, Greece Location 4: Construction site in Oldenburg (Ol), Germany 00:00 Construction site, Oldenburg There are 5 582 000 kilometres of road network in the European Union that have to be kept up. A never ending task regarding the damages caused annually. Repairing potholes, car ruts and cracks disturbs the flow of traffic. Besides, material for the new road surfaces has to be produced, transported and applied. 00:22 University of Sheffield At the University of Sheffield in England the department of Civil and Structural Engineering searched within the EU project ECOLANES for ways to create an ecological concrete pavement. Prof Pilakoutas, coordinator of the Ecolanes project, and his team of researchers developed an economic, long lasting and energy efficient material. 00:55 Statement Prof Pilakoutas ?The main target of ECOLANES was to develop long lasting rigid-pavements for the transport industry, and basically concentrating on roller compacted concrete which is a dry mix concrete, using recycled tyre wire from post-consumer tyres, lower energy cements as well as recycled aggregates.? 01:21 Tyre recycling The main innovation is to reuse the steel from waste tyres. In the European Union more than 3.2 Million tons of waste tyres are produced annually. A regulation from 2003 prohibits the disposal of postconsumer tyres in the landfill. They have to be recycled. Machines separate now the components: a typical tyre contains around 50 percent rubber. In the form of granulates it is recycled for floor coverings as for example on sport grounds. Approximately 25 percent in the tyres are textiles which makes a good fuel to heat the ovens of steel mills. The rest are steel fibres. The problem: The metal wires still hold a lot of rubber and plastic from the reinforcement which limits the options to reuse them for new steel products. 02:47 Statement Prof Pilakoutas: ?Most of the cases the way that the steel is extracted it still has a lot of rubber and plastic from the reinforcement and hence the steel mills refuse to take it. So most of the steel ends up being waste that is thrown in landfill.? 03:08 Lab, University of Sheffield The concrete of the ECOLANES project at the University of Sheffield uses processed steel fibres with rubber content. Typical fibre dosages are at 50 kilograms per cubic meter by mass of concrete. The cost of steel fibres from post consumer tyres is at least 50 per cent cheaper than that of the manufactured steel fibre reinforcement. There is no need for raw material to be mined and formed requiring extra energy. Exploiting the short and thin steel fibres enables also to use more of them per square meter so that the concrete is highly interwoven. 04:20 After mixing the concrete for two minutes a specimen is casted. Due to a very different consolidation method used, the dry mix requires less cement than conventional concrete: externally it is compacted with 10 ton vibrating rollers. In the lab the compression is done with a suitable vibratory hammer. The frame can be stripped straight away. The specimen is stable enough and the researcher can even stand on it. 05:36 A rough comparison with conventional concrete shows the big difference on the fresh properties. Roller compacted concrete is ready for light traffic right after laying it. Conventional concrete normally requires between 7 to 20 days before traffic can be allowed on. 05:55 Testing of concrete, Lab, University of Sheffield To test the durability performance of the new material, it was exposed to extreme conditions. It stayed 56 days in a climate chamber with a daily changing temperature from plus 20 to minus 20 degrees Celsius. Results do not indicate any major damage to the concrete, since the fibres help to maintain the integrity of the concrete. 06:43 Corrosion leads to an expansion of the metal parts. To investigate the corrosion of the samples the researchers placed them into a basin with salty water for a period of ten months. Every three to four days the specimen were removed and dried to expose them to oxygen. 07:20 After 10 months of corrosion, the major effects were observed only by rusty appearance. Due to the small size of the fibres, the expansion was not high enough to crack the concrete. The stability of the concrete is not affected. 07:38 The scientists used a bending experiment to test how well the material coped with the exposure to extreme temperatures and moisture. It takes 100 metric tons and about one hour to crack the sample. The steel fibres keep the concrete together. Without the fibres it would have taken not more than 10 minutes to crack the concrete. Not only tests in the lab have been done. 08:19 Statement Prof Pilakoutas: ?We also had four demonstration projects in four different environments in Europe. First in London at the entrance of a logistics centre; second in Romania on a highway that is exposed to very high frequent freeze and thaw cycles of; third in Antalya in a city with heavy traffic from busses and lorries and problems with rutting especially in the hot summers and fourth in Cyprus in a rural environment in a very unstable slope that is cripping. There are a lot of deformations on the road surface.? 09:10 Test site at Logistics Centre near London The test site at a logistics centre near London was constructed in April 2009. Mainly heavy load vehicles have to break in front of the gates. The forces on the concrete beneath are severe. The only disadvantage so far: for safety reasons a thin layer of asphalt has to be added on top of the concrete. This way steel fibres that stick out cannot damage the tyres of the vehicles or hurt anybody. But still the results of the eco pavement are impressive: the new material is about 12 per cent cheaper and the construction times are reduced by 15 per cent. When the material is disused, it can be removed, crushed and recycled for a new pavement. For Prof. Pilakoutas the overall energy balance is the most important factor. It is 40 per cent lower compared to traditional concrete pavement. 10:14 Statement Prof Pilakoutas: ?The Energy savings come from the fact that we use less materials from closer sources, the pavement is longer lasting so it is going to last for 40 years, so there is going to be less maintenance over the time and less traffic jams during the road maintenance periods.? 10:44 The researchers hope that their material will provide a better infrastructure in the future: Fewer potholes, less maintenance required and therefore less impact on the traffic. 11:01 End Keyframe:  Id Item: 507147 Tx_Time: 10:15 - 10:30   Tx_Date: 07-SEP-2010  Status: TRS Origin: ZZEBU  Origin City: GNVE Item type: WF